The modern viola is the last vestige of a whole family of stringed instruments that goes back five centuries. Played as a consort, viols become a gentle, complementary chorus, a sound that inspired many English composers, including John Dowland. I can’t think of a better meditation break in the middle of a workday (even if it is the first day of the week). Toronto’s Cardinal Consort suggests a donation of $5.

In case you need an introduction to the sound, here is a great audio and visual illustration by the Ernst Stolz Viol Consort, using a piece by William Byrd:

Less than two weeks ahead of curtain on the first production of the season, the Canadian Opera Company introduces this year’s Ensemble Studio members in a recital of opera favourites at the first of its capacity-crowd free lunchtime concerts at the Four Seasons Centre. You’ll find full programme details here.

These two excellent artists pair up for a free lunchtime art song recital plucked from three cycles by Francis Poulenc: Métamorphoses, Fiancailles pour rire and Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Prof. Eric Domville introduces.

Here, just for fun, is the world premiere of two piecs from Poulenc’s song cycle La Courte paille (The Short Straw) on French television, with the composer accompanying soprano Denise Duval.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has chosen the tried-and-true path to open its 2012-13 season in choosing Canadian star James Ehnes (now based in Florida) to breathe his unsurpassed technical control on one of the warhorses of the violin repertoire, the 1878 Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms.

The oddly structured programme led by music director Peter Oundjian starts with the Overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s La Forza del destino and ends with American composer John Adams’ popular — and gripping — 1984 symphony Harmonielehre. The title comes from a music theory treatise by Arnold Schoenberg, but the three-movement work is tonal, bristling colourfully with Adams’ now-signature shifting music-pattern textures.

Toronto’s great period-instrument orchestra built its international reputation on a handful of Baroque masterpieces, including J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Their Sony recording, recently reissued on Tafelmusik’s new in-house recording label, continues to set the standard for how this music should be interpreted.

For the orchestra’s season-opening programme, we get to hear Brandenburg Concertos No.1, No. 3 (the one with the fancy violin work) and No. 5, which will give Charlotte Nediger an opportunity to show off her skills at the harpsichord.

The programme, led by violinist Jeanne Lamon, is rounded out with Bach’s brilliant Fourth Orchestral Suite, which dates from the same period as the Brandenburgs and doesn’t get performed nearly enough.

One of the masterpieces of the early Baroque gets a rare Toronto performance, in a pared-down version that places one instrument per part, featuring a new small vocal ensemble Accenti Vocali and the Elixir Baroque Ensemble. Tickets are $20, which mitigates the risk of checking out these brave musicians in the ample acoustics of this large downtown church.

SUNDAY

New Music Concerts at the Betty Oliphant Theatre, 8 p.m.

Lawrence Wiliford

I’ll have more later in the week on this season-opening programme, which features the premiere of a new piece for tenor (Lawrence Wiliford) and eight cellos by Toronto composer James Rolfe.